The domain name may consist of only the following: a - z, 0 - 9 and hyphen (-).

The domain name may not have a hyphen as the first and/or last character as well as the third and fourth character (simultaneously).

The domain name may not consist of only 2 letters; however, it may have a letter and a number or 2 numbers.

Example:

Registration for ab.co.uk is not allowed whereas Registration of 1c.co.uk or 23.co.uk is permitted.

The domain name may not be identical to any existing Second Level extension (CO, LTD, ME, NET, ORG, PLC, AC, GOV, MOD, MIL, NHS, POLICE, NIC, SCH) or any Second Level extension under .UK the creation of which has formally been announced by the .UK Registry. For example, Registration of org.co.uk or nhs.org.uk is not permitted.

The domain name may not be identical to any existing Top Level extension (COM, NET, UK, EU, etc.) or any Top Level extension the formal approval of which has been announced by ICANN (the regulatory body overseeing the functioning of the Internet). For example, Registration of com.co.uk or eu.org.uk is not allowed.

If a 3rd Level .UK domain name is registered before June 10, 2014, 0800 UTC, then the corresponding .UK domain name can only be registered by the Registrant of the 3rd Level .UK domain name. See details

As per the grandfathering process, if .CO.UK, .ORG.UK and .ME.UK were all registered (by different people), the .CO.UK owner will have first rights on the corresponding .UK domain name. If .CO.UK wasn't registered, the .ORG.UK owner gets preference over the .ME.UK owner.

While registering a 2nd Level .UK domain name for which the corresponding 3rd Level .UK name already exists, the applicant needs to provide complete Contact information of the 3rd Level name.

If the 3rd Level .UK domain name is registered under ResellerClub, the application will be authenticated by our system.

If the 3rd Level .UK domain name is registered under some other Registrar, the .UK Registry will conduct verification by sending an email to the 3rd Level .UK Registrant. If the verification is not completed within 7 days, the application will be cancelled.

Registrants who are non-trading individuals (those who do not use or plan to use their domain name for business, trade [including registration of domain names for monetization purposes] or professional transactions) can choose to opt out of having their Contact Details displayed in the Whois lookup.

This option can be enabled by the Registrant from within his Nominet control panel.

The Identity of the Registrant Contact cannot be modified for free.

Identity refers to:

Name of the Registrant Contact, if the Registrant Contact is an individual

Company Name of the Registrant Contact, if the Registrant Contact is a non-individual

If the country of the Registrant Contact for a 2nd Level .UK domain name is not UK, then an additional Service Contact must be specified at the time of Registration or Contact modification. This Service Contact must have a valid UK address, with the country being United Kingdom (GB), Isle of Man (IM), Jersey (JE) or Guernsey(GG). The Registry will send all physical communication intended for the domain name to this address.

If the Registrant Contact address is of UK (i.e., United Kingdom (GB), Isle of Man (IM), Jersey (JE) or Guernsey(GG)), then the Service Contact is not required.